The Goal of the Year in the NHL?

Posted By
Joe Haggerty
On
December 22, 2008 @ 11:07 am
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General |
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Here’s a look at Blake Wheeler’s amazing short-handed goal from last night’s 6-3 stomping over the St. Louis Blues[1]. Wheeler’s lamp-lighter is one that B’s fans will be talking about for the rest of the season and an appropriate catalyst for the “Blake Wheeler as Calder Trophy Winner” hype machine that should really begin gaining some traction. Wheeler basically powered and dangled his way through four St. Louis Blues defenders while killing off a penalty, and somehow flipped a shot past Blues goalie Manny Legace after putting on his puck-handling feat of strength to get to the opposing cage.

Wheeler is now tied with Blues center Patrick Berglund and Maple Leafs center Mikhail Grabovski in rookie goals scored with his 11 strikes in 33 games this season and holds a commanding lead with the +19 number built up as a trigger man on the B’s explosive third line.

Here’s Wheeler’s biggest competition as he continues to build a Rookie of the Year resume: Columbus Blue Jackets[2] center Derek Brassard (10 goals, 15 assists), Chicago Blackhawks[3] winger Kris Versteeg (8 goals, 17 assists), Berglund (11 goals, 10 assists), Grabovski (11 goals, 9 assists), Vancouver Canucks[4] Jannik Hansen (4 goals, 13 assists), Pittsburgh Penguins[5]‘ defenseman Alex Goligoski (4 goals, 11 assists) and LA Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (3 goals, 8 assists). There’s still obviously a big, honking amount of the hockey season to still be played, but Wheeler is smack dab in the middle of the mix right now and has to be considered one of the early favorites. It also appears that top-scorer Brassard will be out of the picture after suffering a right shoulder injury[6] that will likely require season-ending surgery.

Just what Boston needs: another young up-and-coming superstar about to make a sizeable impact on the pro sports scene.

The 22-year-old power forward is on pace for 50 points this season (27 goals, 23 assists) and is a brawny, puck-possession cog on Boston’s electric third line that’s thrown up 45 points and an amazing +31 over their last 11 games. The third line has become Boston’s main scoring threat over the last month of hockey, and continues to gain steam here in the season’s first half. The only question now is whether Wheeler will hit the “rookie wall” as he doubles the amount of games he might have skated in at the University of Minnesota as a senior this season.

But that’s a query for another day. Here’s last night’s goal because, as always, a moving picture says a 1,000 hockey words:

[6] Brassard will be out of the picture after suffering a right shoulder injury: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/12/22/jackets_notes22.ART_ART_12-22-08_C1_8MCACEP.html?sid=101

[7] B’s General Manager Peter Chiarelli for creating the kind of hockey environment that persuaded Wheeler to choose Boston over other NHL destinations on the map.: http://www.weei.com/pages/3304380.php?

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